British Columbia Logs Second Cougar Attack Within 1 Week

January 6, 2010 6:12 a.m. EST

Danskin, British Columbia, Canada (AHN) - Another cougar attack happened in British Columbia within one week. The incident actually took place ahead of the reported first attack on an 11-year-old resident of Boston Bar.

The attack took place on Dec. 31. Mary Metzler was cleaning the Mennonite church in Danskin when she heard screams outside the church where two of her children were sliding on their toboggan. At that time, Metzler was in the stockroom to get cleaning supplies, according to reports.

She immediately seized a rag, which was the size of a face towel, and ran outside to check what was happening. Metzler saw a cougar on top of her son, 7-year-old David Jr., with the animal's mouth on the boy's head. She reportedly ran toward the cougar and hit it with her rag, which caused the 30-kilogram beast to flee.

After Metzler picked up her wounded son, she went back to the church and realized her other child - 5-year-old Doris, who was playing with David - was missing. She ran again outside and saw her daughter unhurt, but terribly scared.

From the children's account, there were actually two cougars that chased David and Doris after the girl fell while riding the toboggan.

A team of conservation officers who heard about the cougar attack hunted the animals, found the two female cougars the next morning and shot them. Although still recovering from his wound, David returned to school on Monday morning.